1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to household appliances and, more particularly, to a motorized opener for opening a container having a screw-off removable lid or cap.
2. Prior Art
There have been many products developed over the years that helped people opened jars. These products ranged from rubber pads to help grip the jar to pliers-like tools that grip the lid and gave the user added leverage. All these products were not motorized except for one product with a motor that attached under a cabinet. It used a cone-shaped form with internal ribs to grab the lid. When a user pushed up with the jar into the cone, the upward motion activated a switch and the motor rotated the cone. The person had to hold onto the jar and provide the counter rotational torque.
These existing products have both advantages and disadvantages. Rubber pads can give a user added gripping with slippery lids, but do not provide any extra torque. The mechanical devices that grip provide an advantage with torque by providing a lever arm. However, a disadvantage is that a person still has to provide both the rotational force and counter rotational force. The advantage of the motorized product is that it provided gripping of the lid and rotation, but still did not provide the counter force and a user had to hold the jar up into the cone with some force as the cone rotated the lid.
In addition to the products mentioned above, various other designs have been patented, but have not been commercialized for one reason or another. These patented designs range from totally automated devices to smaller motorized devices. The totally automated devices only need a user to place a jar inside a cabinet, close a door, and press a button. The device does everything. The smaller devices, also motorized, use non slip plates to grab both the lid and base; the motor being located in the base. The plate that grips the lid slides up and down rods that come out of the base. U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,158 discloses a jar lid remover with a lower clamp actuated by a manually rotatable knob and an upper clamp attached to a motor. The lower clamp comprises two slidable jaw members which are slid in and out relative to each other by a rotatable gear. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,329,831; 5,167,172 and 6,182,534 disclose other type of jar openers.
There is a desire to provide a new type of jar opener which is more user friendly and is more compact to occupy less space on a counter top.